Hugo Schenk

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by tpksstories

by tpksstories

Hugo Schenk (February 11, 1849 –April 22, 1884), was an Austrian serial killer and imposter whomurdered four maids with the help of his accomplice, Karl Schlossarek(1858 – 1884).

Activities

Hugo Schenk was born into a well-offfamily as a son of a judge working in Cieszyn. His brother worked asa community doctor in Maria Taferl. In 1869 and 1870 he began hiscriminal life as an escapee from the henchmen of the Tsar fromWarsaw, Prince Boleslav von Wilopolsky, and was tried as a marriageswindler to get the dowry of the alleged brides. Sentenced onDecember 5, 1870, to a five-year stay at the Mírov detention centerfor a number of serious frauds, but was pardoned and released aftertwo years.

At the age of 32, he was once againconvicted of marital fraud for two years in a heavy dungeon at theStein Prison. In prison he met Karl Schlossarek, who was imprisonedfor theft. After his release in January 1883 Schenk met the 34-yearold Josefine Timal, who worked as a maid in Vienna, where he workedas a railway engineer and promised her marriage. Timal gave into hisconfidence, quit her job, packed all her valuables and traveled withhim to their alleged honeymoon in Kraków. However, he raped her nearthe Hranice Abyss. With the help of Schlossarek, he gagged and tiedTimal, robbed her of valuables and sank her with a heavy stone intothe abyss.

Because Schenk was of the opinion thather aunt Katharina, who worked as a maid in Budweis, could notice herniece's disappearance, he also planned to kill her. He wrote to herthat he had married Josefine and invited her to his estate. On June21, 1883, he picked her up from the station and took her toKrummnußbaum, where he overpowered and killed her along the banks ofthe Danube, along with Schlossarek. After taking all her valuables,they sank Katharina into the Danube. Only six weeks later Schenkmurdered the maid Theresia Ketterl in a gorge in Lilienfeld to gether valuables. On December 28, 1883, the duo murdered and buried maidRosa Ferenczi in the Danube at Kittenish to rob her.

Execution

On January 10, 1884, Hugo Schenk wasarrested, and just a day later - Karl Schlossarek. Both weresentenced to death by hanging and executed on April 22, 1884, inCourt No. 1 of the Vienna Regional Court.

Legacy

The skull of Hugo Schenk, which wasautopsied and neurologically examined after the execution by Vienneseneurologist Moritz Benedikt, is in the Vienna Criminal Museum. Thewriter Egon Kisch (1885 - 1948) has dealt with the story of a womanwho survived Schenk's attack.

Literature

Ludwig Altmann: Hugo Schenk undseine Genossen. (= Aus dem Archiv des grauen Hauses – Eine Sammlungmerkwürdiger Wiener Straffälle, Band 2). Wien-Leipzig-München1925.

Moriz Benedikt, Rudolf Frank:Anthropologischer Befund bei dem Mörder Hugo Schenk. In: WienerMedizinische Blätter, XIV. Jg., Nr. 1 (1885).

Michael Kirchschlager: DerMädchenmörder Hugo Schenk. Historische Kriminal-Bibliothek, Band 1.ISBN 3-934277-15-2

Egon Erwin Kisch: Eine Frau, dieauf Hugo Schenk wartet. In: Ders.: Prager Pitaval. Gesammelte Werkein Einzelausgaben. Hrsg. von Bodo Uhse und Gisela Kisch. II/2.Berlin/Weimar: Aufbau, 1975, S. 34–44.

Proceß des Mädchenmörders HugoSchenk und seiner Genossen, verhandelt in Wien im März 1884 vor demAusnahmegerichte. Nach authentischen Berichten bearbeitet. Wien 1883.

Bernhard Purin: Hugo Schenk – EinHeiratsschwindler und Serienmörder zu Besuch in Rosenburg. In:Horner Kalender 2015 (Verlag Ferdinand Berger & Söhne), S.93–103.